Just Once
by dax-fox
Summary: A series of short Malec one-shots. They all revolve around a number of days in Magnus and Alec's time together, the ups and the downs, the happiness and the sadness. One thing is for sure: Starting their new life together is going to be very eventful.
1. Desire

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, etc.**

**Author's Note: I post a fair few one-shots so I'm going to start posting them as one big bunch so they are a bit tidier :D**

_Desire is such a filthy word. It slips of the tongue with ease. Reminiscent of the hiss of a snake it implies temptation and sin. It casts a shadow on the hearts of the pure and strengthens the hearts of the experienced. It ravages the soul with a white hot flame that is inextinguishable. Like a disease it brings people down from the inside._

_For centuries there have been those who have embraced it and those who have suppressed it. But it is all in the eyes, that is where the truth lies. _

"Why do you look at him like that?"

Alexander Lightwood spun round on his heel and faced the Warlock.

He was just standing there; Magnus did not look like himself at all. His eyes were dull and his clothes dark. He looked elegant and graceful but tense. Despite his lack of movement and the emptiness of his tone, Alec could sense a simmering energy welling up behind those dull eyes.

Cat eyes, the mark of his power and inheritance. Half demon, entirely Warlock, Magnus was conceptually a strange beast. It seemed strange to Alec that all of this should occur to him now. This was his boyfriend, his lover. So why was he thinking about him as a creature of legend? Magnus was real, he had felt his touch and been warmed by his breath, but... here he was standing in the middle of the room looking so strange and exotic.

"I don't know what you mean," said Alec.

"Yes, you do," replied Magnus. His tone was just as empty, and yet powerful, as before.

Alec hands balled in to a fist. Yes, he did know and he wished it wasn't so.

"Why can't you let him go?" asked Magnus. He shook his head sadly as he spoke as if he saw no hope for Alec.

"I-I don't know," the young Shadowhunter stuttered.

Magnus could not look at him anymore. Instead he stared down at the wooden table beside him and brushed his long fingered hand across its surface. He felt its every blemish and its every perfection. When there was smoothness there came a patch of roughness and then balance was restored. The equilibrium of its state maintained.

"I do not ask perfection from you, Alexander Lightwood. But I do ask for loyalty. I do not think that too difficult a request."

Alec nodded slowly even though he knew the Warlock could not see because his eyes were still trained on the table; anywhere but in Alec's direction.

It was so strange how different Magnus was today. Where was the gaiety, the colour and the vibrancy Alec had come to love so much? It was these things that Alec lacked within himself. He needed Magnus to provide these things to make him complete. But not _this_ Magnus. This Magnus seemed full of darkness and shadows.

"Why are you so different?" he asked, slowly.

That was what made Magnus look up. Their eyes met and a link was forged that neither could break.

"Because of you, Alexander. You do this to me, you change me. I want you, I need you, and I love you. The time has come for you to accept that. I have been alive so long." His eyes closed as he spoke and his lips parted slightly as he sighed, "I am so... tired."

He walked over to Alec slowly, his hand outstretched. Alec reached out and grabbed it. They held each other tightly whilst gazing intently at every shift in expression of the other. In tune.

"I just want you to be mine and mine alone," he took Alec's chin up in the palm of his free hand. "Alexander Lightwood," he whispered, "Please will you just be mine? You loved him when you were young, when you had nothing else to idolise and put on a pedestal. He was convenient. But you don't need him anymore. Do you know how domineering and selfish you have made me? All I want is you, there have been others, many, many others, but none quite like you. I am too tired to fight for your affection, so tell me now, once and for all, are you mine Alexander Lightwood?" His eyes seemed to light up from within. There was magic, a power in them that Alec could not at first define. But then he knew what it was. He had always known in his heart...

Alec's breathing became ragged as these words struck him as if he had been beaten with every move of Magnus's mouth. Magnus could feel him tremble beneath his touch. And then he saw it; a fire was lit behind the young man's eyes. The fires of desire.

He opened his mouth and said the one word which solidified their relationship forever. "Yes."

And Magnus knew it to be true. Finally, it was true.


	2. Simplest Things

_**Disclaimer: Don't own the Mortal Instruments.**_

_**Simplest Things**_

He was laughing like mad, his head thrown back and his hair flicking about his head in perfect disarray.

"What is so funny, Magnus?"

A giggle or a sly smile Alec could handle but a full scale chortle was too much for him. Sometimes the simplest things Alec did would seem hysterically funny to the Warlock. It wouldn't have been so bad if Alec had intended to be funny but half the time he really wasn't.

This time all Alec had done was ask a simple question. That was all; nothing strange about that. That was why Alec could not help but frown as Magnus still rolled around on the floor unable to catch his breath in between peals of laughter. His laugh was a harsh sound and it reminded Alec of church bells.

The kind of bells that are double edged, at times they ring to signal the arrival of merriment and happiness and at others they signal death and the intolerable passage of time. Magnus was like that to. Sometimes Alec just stared at him out of the corner of his eye and remembered how old the Warlock was, how many years he had lived and had yet to live. Alec had never before seriously considered his own death but now more than ever it seemed to be very prominent in his mind.

Sometimes he felt like Magnus's immortality was mocking his mortality and it hurt, it hurt so badly that sometimes Alec would actively avoid Magnus's company just so he could keep his mind free of morbid thoughts and dreams of Magnus loving other young men and women who weren't even born yet.

But none of that had anything to do with Alec's question.

He was very much annoyed now and finally Magnus looked at him properly and realised he had crossed line. He breathed heavily as he tried quickly to calm himself down and he fought his uncontrollable lips which seemed stuck in a foolish grin.

He put his head down and his hair covered his expression for a moment before he decided to stand up and face Alec to prove the gaiety had been dispensed with. He coughed briefly and then smiled softly at his lover; a kindly smile and not a mocking one.

"I am sorry, my love," he moved Alec's dark fringe out of his beautiful blue eyes as he spoke. The feel of his touch against his skin immediately calmed Alec's temper. "It's just that sometimes," and here the grin returned, "the simplest things you do make me laugh. And not in a mean way, I promise you. It just makes me so happy to be with you. Your growing up and here I am with a front row ticket to watch you, once a shy and awkward Shadowhunter-"

Here Alec blushed and turned his face away from Magnus. He heard a low chuckle but this time it didn't annoy him, this time he felt like smiling to.

"Come now, darling, you know it's true. But you're changing. It's happening so quickly. You're becoming a wildly hot and gorgeous young man with, admittedly, a less then fabulous taste in style but an adorable sense of humour. I love it."

Alec's smile drooped slightly as he thought about what Magnus was saying. It was back to the issue of time again. Why did everything have to come back to "time"?

"But, Magnus, what happens after that? When my hair goes grey and my eyes start to fail me and everything else that comes with being old. What happens then?"

"Then you will be a sexily mature Shadowhunter, simple," Magnus laughed again but then he saw how sad Alec looked. So he leaned in closer and kissed Alec's cheek tenderly. "I will _always_ love you, do you understand?"

Alec shrugged weakly.

"What can I do to convince you?"

Alec voice suddenly sounded like it was coming from very far away, in the future. "I think you'll only be able to prove it to me when the time comes for you to put it in to practice."

"I see," Magnus said, quietly. "That is a long time away, though."

"I don't know. I think the time will fly by," Alec said sadly.

Magnus opened his mouth as if to speak but then closed it again, thinking better of it. Instead he grabbed Alec around the waist and hugged him tightly as if he would never let him go.

"Thank you," Alec said his voice muffle as he burrowed his head against Magnus's neck. Finally, he believed Magnus. He didn't care if he was proved wrong in the future. Today was the present and right now he had someone who loved him no matter what.

Sometimes it is the simplest of things that can make the biggest of differences.


End file.
